Pro-Ukrainian Blogger Arrested for Posting Online About Life in Military-held Luhansk

Eduard Nedeliayev, a pro-Ukrainian blogger, was arrested in the occupied city of Luhansk. Nedeliayev is accused by Russian-backed militants of cooperating with the Ukrainian Secret Services and the Aidar battalion.

The blogger was claimed by the “Ministry of State Security” to post extremist materials on social media. However, his supporters assert that Nedeliayev was only sharing the real life under military-held Luhansk.

In a search conducted at his house, a wide variety of radio-transmitting equipment was found, allegedly connecting Nedeliayev to the suspicions of spying for the Ukrainian Secret Services. The residents of Luhansk reject those allegations and insist that the blogger was merely exercising his freedom of speech while he “was not afraid to express his pro-Ukrainian position”.

Since May 2014, the city of Luhansk has been under the occupation of Luhansk People’s Republic. The separatists claimed governance during the protests in Eastern Ukraine and pronounced Luhansk as their official capital. The legitimacy of their ruling is under great dispute.